


The Story of Us

by TrainThoughts



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Amy gives birth, Amy is in pain, Baby, Baby Fic, Baby is coming, Episode: s07e13 Lights Out, F/M, Fatherhood, Fireman Curt delivers Mac, Fluff, Jake Peralta Loves Amy Santiago, Jake Peralta is a Dad, Jake and Amy and Mac, Jake and Mac, Love, Mac's birth story, Minor description of birth, Missing Scene, One Shot, Parenthood, Parents Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Precinct baby, Protective Jake Peralta, birth story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23841721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrainThoughts/pseuds/TrainThoughts
Summary: In the glow of Scully's fart candles, Jacob Peralta found more happiness than he ever had in his entire life.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	The Story of Us

Jake Peralta had never run so fast in his entire life. 

An officer saw him running into the precinct and pressed the button for the elevator for him, clearly aware of what was going on upstairs, but Jake had already run for the stairs. The elevator was on the fifth floor and he didn't have the time.

He felt his thighs burning as he reached the second floor, his heart thudding in his chest. _Two more floors. Amy. Baby._

He heard the screams from the third floor landing, and his heart broke at the sound. They were full of pain, and fear. He could tell. They were his wife's screams, after all. He picked up speed. 

Everyone in the bullpen looked up as he approached, and immediately moved to make way, wordlessly directing him to the room where his wife was currently labouring. 

"...but Jake's not here!" He heard Amy cry out from inside the room, just as he turned the handle. 

"I'm here! I'm here!!"

Later, when they had time to breathe, Jake would brag about his amazing timing. ( _"How cool was it, babe, that I reached just as you said that? Such a dramatic reveal!" "You aren't the only one in our family fond of dramatic reveals, it seems," she would huff, pulling up the blanket on their son._ )

But right now, he was breathless and sweaty, and Amy was breathless and sweaty, and _their baby was coming_. 

He stopped at the door, mesmerised by the site of the baby- _their baby_ \- crowning. Rosa looked so grossed out that it was downright funny, but Jake could only look in _wonder._

Amy wailed again, and Jake rushed to her side, picking up the cloth Rosa had been using to dab at her forehead, and wiping away the sweat on her hairline. He leaned down to kiss her cheek, and couldn't stop himself from pressing another quick one to her lips.

"Did you get me drugs?" Amy asked, sounding so hopeful that he almost laughed. "I think it's too late for that now, babe," he whispered, gripping her hand. "You've done so well, Ames. Look at you, so brave." 

He couldn't take his eyes off of her. Ruddy and sweaty, her face had never seemed more beautiful to him. 

"Okay, Amy, it's time to push!" The firefighter- 'Curt', his nametags said, _urgh_ \- called from from where he was sitting in position to catch the baby. Jake was only half-tempted to tell him to shut up. _He's here to help_ , he reluctantly reminded himself.

Amy squeezed his hand, hard, as she bore down, only yelling out her pain when they reached count number eight. "Deep breath, c'mon Amy," Rosa called out, and Amy clutched his hand harder. A few tears rolled out of her eyes, and she tried to blink them away, hurriedly. He leaned down to whisper, that she was so strong, so brave, and that he loved her, dearly wishing there was something he could do to take away her pain. 

"Where's the ambulance?" Fireman Curt asked. He seemed far too chill, given their current situation. 

"It's been dispatched, but traffic is crazy," Jake replied, not taking his eyes off of Amy. She let out a dismayed moan at this piece of information. "- but it will be here in twenty minutes, I'm sure!" He hastened to complete his sentence. 

"Cool. Anyway, the head is almost out, and we're doing good down here, but you're going to need to start pushing harder, okay? On the count of three, okay, Amy? One, two, three, PUSH!" 

They all joined in, counting to ten, their chants drowned out by Amy's yells. And then they did it again. And again. And one more time. The tiny room was full of groans and chants and yells. Amy was getting redder by the minute. Jake could tell she was tiring out. He gripped her hand, praying to anyone who was listening to watch over his wife and child and make sure they were going to be okay. 

"C'mon, Amy, the head's out! You can do it!" Rosa urged. Jake really wanted to peek down below, but he didn't want to leave Amy for even a second. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were closed, tear tracks glittering on her cheeks. She nodded, weakly, and they started counting again, louder, faster - 

\- and then, suddenly there was a loud gasp (from Rosa), a surprised squeak (from Amy) and then - _silence_. 

And then the baby, that was now outside Amy's body, found its lungs, and _cried_.

There was a moment of absolute stillness as the entire room took a second to process what they had just witnessed, before they all started moving, again. Curt rapidly deposited the red, squirmy thing that was Jake's son, facedown onto the towel draped over Amy's front, bundling it up and rubbing its chest.

He started chanting out instructions. "Jake, wipe him and cover him properly so he doesn't get cold, Rosa, help me with the cord!" 

Curt helped Amy pull the baby towards her, so it was lying on her chest, as he suctioned the mucus and...other goop out. 

"Jake, c'mon, I need to deliver the afterbirth..." 

Jake hadn't realised he had been frozen in place, until the sound of his name cut through the fog. His brain had just short-circuited. In the span of two seconds, he'd gone from being an expectant father to an actual parent of a whole baby. He approached the child - _his child_ \- cautiously. Not out of fear, but because his legs had essentially turned to jelly. His brain wasn't working - it was only focused on the boy in front of him. 

The kid was still crying, though not as loudly as before. Amy was gently rubbing his back. She looked up at Jake and he realised she was crying. Then he realised he was crying as well. 

"Amy," he said, in a voice made thick by tears. "He's _here_. _He's_ here." 

_Overwhelmed_ was an understatement to what he was feeling. Stunned, maybe. He took a deep, shaky breath. _His son was here._ Suddenly remembering Curt's words, he lurched forward, and used the towel that the baby was lying on, to wipe his head and his feet and his tiny, _tiny_ , hands-

A sob burst out of him- he couldn't hold it in any more, and Amy followed suit. It was a funny sight - three humans, weeping ceaselessly - two of them full grown adults, and one new to the world; and none of them sad. And yet, no amount of evil, grief or misery in the world could penetrate the bubble of joy, _of pure, unadulterated joy,_ that the little family was currently basking in. 

The EMTs burst in soon - it could have been a minute, could have been an hour, not that Jake would've known. Or cared. In the glow of Scully's fart candles, Jacob Peralta found more happiness than he ever had, in his entire life. 

It was convenient that baby and mommy were already on a gurney - they checked Amy's and the baby's vitals, and then they were on their way, Jake hot on their heels. They threw another blanket over Amy and the baby. "Is he secure?" They asked. And Jake knew they meant it in a not-falling-down way, but to him, it was much more loaded. _Secure. Security._ It was his job, from now on, till forever, to make sure his child was always safe and secure. A shiver ran down his spine. The thought made him _excited_. He was excited to have this baby and _love_ this baby and _to be a father_. He couldn't wait for this journey.

Charles rushed in just as he was climbing on to the ambulance, behind the stretcher.

"JAKE?!? IS THE - HAS HE - IS HE HERE?? OH MY -" 

"Not now, Charles, see you at the hospital!" 

"I'LL BE RIGHT THERE! I'LL BE THERE FASTER THAN YOU. I'M -"

"Detective Boyle. You are still on duty-" Holt's firm tone almost made Jake laugh. "We shall come see you in an hour or so, after things clear out here - you two settle down first." Holt added. "Oh, I mean - the three of you." Jake couldn't stop the large grin that spread across his face, and delighted in the fact that Holt responded with an equally big smile. 

Traffic having cleared, they reached Brooklyn Methodist in well under ten minutes. At the hospital, the baby was whisked away by one of the nurses. Amy looked sullen at the separation, but she had to go into the OR to be checked for tears and wounds.

"Go with him," she urged, and Jake didn't need to be told twice. He followed the nurse into a nursery and watched as the nurse weighed his son, ( _8.5 pounds! Very healthy!_ ) smeared some gel on his eyes and attached a hospital bracelet to his little foot. She took him to a sink and wiped him down, cleared the goo out of his hair. He'd quieted down in the ambulance, warm and safe in his mother's arms, but here started whining and squirming again.

Jake's arms itched to reach out and comfort him. He'd been dying for weeks to finally hold his baby. The nurse put socklings and a cap onto him, and then swaddled him in a hospital blanket, chattering non-stop the whole time. Jake just nodded along, not listening to her at all. All his attention was currently on another human, whose whimpers had progressed to full out wails. She picked him up, bouncing him to try to calm the fussing baby. "You ready to go back to mommy, hun? Hungry, are ya?"

"Umm, just a - I mean, can I - I'll take him."

Jake didn't even know where the words came from. He certainly wasn't feeling that brave thirty seconds ago. "I- I haven't held him yet, and-" 

"Oh, of course!" 

He willed his legs to stop shaking, but this was the very first time he was going to hold his very first child - talk about _monumental occasion_. He'd practiced at home, (with a plushie shark toy that he'd owned for eight years) how to hold a baby. Head, neck and butt, he remembered. _Pretty similar to his Penis, Brain and Jaw (PB &J) method of shooting practice. _

The baby barely weighed anything, but Jake's hands shook from the mental pressure and long-awaited excitement of holding his newborn. Automatically, he began to sway in place, side to side, rocking the still-whimpering baby, and to his extreme astonishment, the baby stopped crying. He actually let out the world's cutest yawn and then settled back against Jake, and went right to sleep. 

Jake chuckled, his eyes filling up again. His chest felt heavy and impossibly light at the same time. He was a _father_. This was _his_ baby. Warmth flooded his belly at the sight of the wrinkly face, chubby cheeks and pouty lips that he had contributed to making. The swaddle had come loose, and a tiny fist was poking out. Jake held it with his own, so much larger palm, and brought him up to place tiny kisses on it. The baby let out a sigh, but didnt wake, evidently very content and comfortable.

"What a cute baby! So happy to be held by daddy! Babies can tell when they are in a protected atmosphere, you know. They can just sense it. He feels safe and secure with you! I bet he'll want to be carried all the time." The nurse cooed. "Does he have a name?"

Something melted in Jake's heart at her words. All these years, Amy had helped to chip away at the walls Jake had set up around his soul - walls he had been forced to out up when, one after the other, he was let down by the people he loved. Her love, her care, and the love he had for her, had made him open and unfettered, freer than he'd felt in a long while. Yet maybe, just maybe, one small brick of that wall remained. _Once burned, twice shy._ But today, that brick disappeared into thin air. Vanished.

This tiny piece of life, that he had helped create, took over his heart and mind and soul and sandpapered away every hardened corner, every rough patch, until nothing but love, plain and simple love for his family, remained.

Jake didn't look up at the nurse, smiling down at the peacefully asleep infant in his arms. _His son. His baby. His life._

"Yup! Mac. Short for McClane. It's from Die Hard, have you seen it? This is McClane Peralta."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm loving the way we are being inundated with baby fics right now. Here's another!
> 
> Thank you for reading!! Let me know what you thought, or just scream about Jake having a baby in the comments! I'd love both.


End file.
